Winchester College
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Winchester College is a public school in the city of Winchester in Hampshire, in the south of England. It is the 'original' public school and the model for later schools like Eton and Harrow. Officially known as Collegium Santae Mariae prope Wintoniensem, or St. Mary's College outside Winchester, the college is commonly referred to as "Win: Coll:" or just "Winchester". Winchester has existed for over six hundred years and claims to have the longest unbroken history of any school in England.
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History
Historically, the school also took a few paying students, known as "Commoners". Originally there were only about 10, rising steadily until the early 19th century, when their numbers were approximately equal to those of the Scholars. In the late 1850s and throughout the 1860s, the numbers expanded dramatically as nine new boarding houses were built. One more boarding house was built in 1905, bringing the total to the current 11 (including College, which continues to occupy the original 14th century buildings), and the total number of pupils to almost 700. A twelfth boarding house is currently in the planning stage.
The headmaster is currently Dr. Ralph Townsend, formerly of Sydney Grammar School and Oundle School, who took over from T.R. Cookson in September 2005.
Winchester Notions
A notion is a manner or tradition peculiar to Winchester College. The word notion is also used to refer to the dialect of English spoken at the school. See Notion (slang).
Winchester College Football
Winchester College has its own game, Winchester College Football (also known as 'Winkies'), played only at Winchester. It could be considered a cross between football and rugby
Former pupils
Famous former pupils (Old Wykehamists) include:
- Henry Chichele, Archbishop of Canterbury
- Thomas Beckington, statesman
- Richard Pace, diplomat
- William Grocyn, scholar
- William Warham, Archbishop of Canterbury
- Roger Ascham, scholar and writer
- Henry Wotton, author and diplomat
- John Davies, poet
- Thomas James, librarian
- Edward Nicholas, statesman
- Thomas Otway, dramatist
- Sir Thomas Browne, polymath, scholar
- William Somerville, poet
- Edward Young, poet
- Robert Lowth, Bishop of London
- Edward Wortley Montagu, author
- William Collins, poet
- Joseph Warton, literary critic and academic
- Thomas Warton, Poet Laureate
- Thomas Burgess, author
- William Lisle Bowles, poet
- Richard Mant, writer
- William Page Wood, 1st Baron Hatherley, Lord Chancellor
- Christopher Wordsworth, Bishop of Lincoln
- Robert Lowe, 1st Viscount Sherbrooke, statesman
- Anthony Trollope, author
- George Bruce Malleson, author
- Samuel Rawson Gardiner, historian
- Richard Bickerton Pemell Lyons, 2nd Baron Lyons, 1st Viscount and Earl Lyons, diplomat
- William Sealey Gosset, chemist
- G. H. Hardy, mathematician
- Archibald Wavell, 1st Earl Wavell, general
- George Mallory, climber of Mount Everest
- Arnold J. Toynbee
- Hugh Dowding, 1st Baron Dowding, Battle of Britain commander
- Sir Oswald Mosley, fascist leader
- Hugh Gaitskell, leader of the Labour Party
- Richard Crossman, Labour politican and diarist
- Kenneth Clark, art historian and broadcaster
- Dr Robert Conquest, historian specialising in Stalin's purges
- William Whitelaw, 1st Viscount Whitelaw, politician
- Geoffrey Howe, Lord Howe of Aberavon, politician
- George Younger, 4th Viscount Younger of Leckie, Tory MP
- Freeman Dyson, Physicist and Mathematician
- Tim Brooke-Taylor, comedian
- Sir Humphrey Appleby, fictional civil servant
- Patrick Minford, economist
- William Donaldson, creator of Henry Root
- Sir Richard Noble, designer of the ThrustSSC
- Joss Whedon, screenwriter and film director
- Hugh Dancy, actor
List of Boarding Houses
Each house has an official name, used mainly as a postal address, and an informal name, usually based on the familiar name of the original housemaster. Each house also has a letter assigned to it, in the order of their founding, to act as an abbreviation.
| Official Name | Informal Name | House Letter |
|---|---|---|
| Chernocke House | Furley's | A |
| Moberly's | Toye's | B |
| Du Boulay's | Cook's | C |
| Fearon's | Kenny's or Kennaez | D |
| Morshead's | Freddie's | E |
| Hawkins' | Chawker's | F |
| Sergeant's | Phil's | G |
| Bramston's | Trant's | H |
| Turner's | Hopper's | I |
| Kingsgate House | Beloe's | K |
College does not have an informal name, although the abbreviation Coll: is sometimes used, especially on written work. It also has a letter assigned to it, X, but it is considered bad form to use this other than as a laundry mark.
Winchester Quotations
"Manners maketh man" - William of Wykeham Motto of Winchester College and New College, Oxford
"Broad of Church and broad of mind, broad before and broad behind, A keen ecclesiologist, a rather dirty Wykehamist." - John Betjeman "The Wykehamist"
"Leader in London's preservation lists And least Wykehamical of Wykehamists{:} Clan chief of Paddington's distinguished set, Pray go on living to a hundred yet!" - Patrick Balfour 3rd Baron, Kinross "For Patrick"
"You can always tell a Wykehamist, but you can’t tell him much." - Anon.
